city girl cafe

There's this little place called City Girl Cafe in Inman Square that we've driven by a countless number of times in the past ten years we've lived here in Somerville, and I'm so embarrassed to say that we've never stopped to visit up until now. So finally, I got to go and check it out. And I'll admit, this was after one of my friends and coworkers came back from having lunch there and raved about their paninis.

My friend, Kathleen, and I decided to face the cold, windy, rainy weather and escape from the office for lunch on Friday. We found a parking spot right out in front of the cafe which was awesome (thank you, parking angel!). We got there around 1:15 pm and there was plenty of seating, so we sat by the window.

Kathleen ordered some of the olives appetizer for us to share, but I was bummed because we think there were cracked red pepper flakes in them. I did have one and it was quite delicious, but I was too afraid to eat anymore.

I ordered half of a PLT panini which was a pancetta, lettuce, and tomato panini with asiago cheese and a basil aioli (of course, mine didn't have the tomato) and it was served with a little bag of Cape Cod potato chips ($4.50). I also splurged and ordered a cannoli for dessert ($2) and a bottle of Pellegrino sparkling mineral water ($3). It was Friday for Pete's sake! I had a long week, so I felt I deserved a little treat. :)

I did think the sandwich was a little bit small in portion, but then again, it was just enough since I had the dessert and a full bottle of the sparkling water. It was absolutely delicious! I had it served on foccacia instead of the seven grain bread. Yummy!

Kathleen had the egg salad and asparagus sandwich with sun-dried tomato, romaine, and aioli on a baguette and she said it was delicious too.

We were both excited about sharing the cannoli that I forgot to take a photo of it before it was literally inhaled! LOL Needless to say, it was wonderfully yummy. :)

This place isn't that far from our office building, so I can definitely see it becoming a new regular stop for lunch. A couple of my friends have said that they do an excellent brunch, too.

City Girl Cafe
204 Hampshire Street
Inman Square
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.864.2809
http://citygirlcafe.com/index.html#

duckfat in portland, maine

One word: duckfat. Yum-o!! I read about this place in a travel magazine, so when we planned our trip up to Portland, Maine, I knew we would have to stop in to try these famous fries. It's a cute little shop at the end of Middle Street in downtown Portland that serves up wonderful panini sandwiches and these yummy fries. (P.S. Click on the photos to enlarge.)



It's really cute and cozy inside, plus they offer seating outside. They have a really long magnetic board along one wall where there is bar/stool seating so you can play with the words while you wait for your food to arrive.

And believe me, you will know when the food arrives.

They're so delicious by themselves because you can really taste the duck fat flavor in them. So nice and hot right out of the frier. But the garlic aioli is also yummy. As is the ketchup (see last photo below).

And then the panini sandwiches! Goodness gracious. We fell in love with the bread that they use, which we found out comes from Standard Baking Company.


Tony had the turkey, avocado, and cheese panini and said it was excellent. I had the ham and cheese panini (without the cheddar) and it was awesome. I would highly recommend stopping here for lunch if you're in the Portland area. I know we'll definitely go back the next time we're in town!